Egyptian Groups Reject $4.8 Billion IMF Loan

CAIRO (AP) -- Seventeen Cairo-based groups have sent a letter to the head of the International Monetary Fund and Egypt's prime minister opposing a proposed $4.8 billion loan. The groups complain that the negotiations over the agreement lack transparency, and in the absence of an elected parliament, the president holds legislative authority without oversight. Ahmad Shokr of the Popular Campaign to Drop Egypt's Debt says another problem is that the government's statements point to a program that is regressive and puts even more of the burden of reducing the budget deficit onto the poor. About 300 protesters marched Monday from the Egyptian Stock Exchange to Cabinet headquarters to press for their demands. Egypt has applied for the loan to counter budget shortfalls after last year's uprising and an economic slowdown that has followed.

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